Family photo 2007
Frankie’ story:-
“Last October, our wonderful mum Joanna passed away at the age of just 54. She had been in and out of treatment for almost 19 years, since the first of three breast cancer diagnoses.
In honour of her, my two sisters and I, along with many of our friends, will be taking on the Full Moon (26.2 miles) at The MoonWalk London 2026. It will be the fourth time I’ve done The MoonWalk. The charity which organises The MoonWalk – Walk the Walk – truly holds a special place in our family’s heart.
Mum was first diagnosed with breast cancer when I was five years old and in reception at school. She was just 35. My younger sisters Olivia and Lucy were three and one. It was actually my Dad Jonathan who discovered the lump in Mum’s breast. I was so young at the time, that I wasn’t really aware of what was going on.
Mum had a mastectomy, and following further treatment went into remission for several years. She was then diagnosed with breast cancer again when I was thirteen.
She’d had a breast implant put in after her mastectomy and went to see the doctor, because there was discoloration of the skin around the implant, which was uncomfortable. It turned out the cancer had come back. She went into treatment again. I was much more aware of what was happening this time. I was older and able to help more around the house when she couldn’t.
When I was twenty, she was diagnosed with breast cancer for a third time. Over the last few years, my family and I drove her to and from hospital appointments and chemotherapy sessions. We sat with her in the A&E department for hours too.
Family photo 2025, at a family wedding, just a few weeks before mum Jo died.
(Photo credit Olivia Whittaker)
Towards the end of her life, Mum also developed ovarian cancer, which is what eventually took her from us on 18th October 2025. For the last two months of her life, she was living with both breast and ovarian cancer, and she chose to spend these final weeks living at home. Dad and I were doing the majority of her care, with the district and hospice nurses coming in to support us. However, Dad and I were the ones who helped feed her, wash her and get the things she wanted day to day. My younger sisters helped too when they were home from university.
It was so sad when Mum died, but at the end she was ready to go. There was a real sense of relief that she was no longer in pain. She’d dealt with so much and had been ill for such a long time, going in and out of treatment for almost 19 years, basically my entire living memory.
I don’t remember life without her having treatment – it was such a constant for me. There was always the risk hanging over us that she might get ill again, especially after the breast cancer returned the first time. A lot of people say that they couldn’t have dealt with what we went through and that they didn’t know how we had done it. But you just have to! We just tried to keep life as normal as possible for her, for as long as we could.
Mum was an extremely social and friendly person. She was very loving and always took the positives out of every situation. Through everything, as a family, we took part in The MoonWalk in support of cancer charity Walk the Walk. The fundraising and walking became so important to us as a family – it gave us real focus.
Jo at The MoonWalk London 2022
Mum completed her first MoonWalk London when I was about seven. She was in remission from her first breast cancer diagnosis at the time, and that was what prompted her to take part with a group of friends. She used to tell us what an amazing challenge The MoonWalk was and that it was raising money for a very good cause. She always said that once we were old enough, she would do the Full Moon (26.2 miles) once with each of us, which she did! I completed my first MoonWalk with Mum at the age of 15. It obviously felt like a huge challenge, but we did a lot of training, which meant we were well prepared. It was lovely to spend all of that time with mum as well. I can’t imagine ever running a marathon but walking one still felt like a massive achievement!
The MoonWalk London 2024. Left to right: Sisters Lucy, Olivia & Frankie
My younger sister Lucy has done The MoonWalk for the last three years. She’d always said that she was going to do it again in 2026, and when our mum died in October, myself and our other sister Olivia said that we would sign up with her. Many of our friends are now joining us, too. There are people we’ve known since we were little, who used to come to our house for dinner after school. Mum was a teaching assistant at our primary school, so many of our friends know her from there. All these amazing people want to support us as a family, but they’re also walking in memory of Mum.
We’ve kept on coming back to take part in The MoonWalk, as we love the event, Walk the Walk and what the charity does.
On the night itself, it’s wonderful walking around London seeing so many buildings lit up pink. It makes you feel like you’re part of something big and that everyone is uniting together for the same cause.
As well as remembering our mum and raising money, we also want to raise awareness about the importance of checking your breasts, whatever your age. A lot of younger people are now aware that they should check their breasts, which is brilliant. However, many view it as something which is rare and unlikely to happen to them, habitually forgetting the importance of vigilance. They don’t really take it all that seriously, especially when they are in their twenties, like me. They put it off, thinking they’ll check themselves in the future, thinking that breast cancer isn’t something which can happen to them now.
It’s so important that people realise breast cancer can happen to anyone. The earlier these things are caught, the more chance there is that breast cancer can be treatable”.
Thank you for sharing your family’s story Frankie and we look forward to seeing you and your team at The MoonWalk London 2026.